(Read Part 1 HERE)

In a previous article, I explained how I recently had someone (seemingly) attempt to burn my house down using a gas can.  My experience that night was humbling – as a guy that puts a fair amount of thought into preparation and safety, I found myself utterly unprepared, and my family utterly unsafe.

As you can imagine, I didn’t get much sleep the night of the fire.  Instead, I used that anxious energy to conduct a thorough inventory of the emergency gear I have at home, and to consolidate that gear into a single location that not only I could easily access, but my wife would know of if I weren’t there.  We also updated our emergency exit strategies to include the possibility of a fire blocking both doors, which brings up the first important lesson I feel the need to address:

Have a plan

Be sure to establish a specific location to meet if you become separated from your family members in the event of an emergency.  My wife and I have two, in the event the first location is compromised by fire or another form of threat.  Having a meeting point can help you get accountability of everyone, so you can make sure your family got out safely, or quickly identify if anyone is missing.  Practice evacuations as often as you test your smoke alarms (once a month).

While there are a number of emergencies that may occur at your home, most can be addressed through simple small variations on one, well-thought-out-plan.  Make sure first aid, important medications, and fire safety equipment are also easy to find and access.

Consider the locations of your smoke alarms

My house has a pretty traditional layout: two floors of living space with an unfinished basement/garage underneath.  As we moved in, we found that there are only two smoke detectors: one in the hallway on the second floor, and one in the hall just in front of the master bedroom on the first.  These smoke alarms are located in the same spot on the floor plan, one directly above the other, and are hardwired so one alarm going off will set the other off as well.

The locations of these smoke detectors, I learned last weekend, means a fire would have to be either in one of the hallways, or large enough to ensure a hallway is full of smoke to go off.  On both floors, those hallways are the only means of exit, so by the time a smoke detector goes off, you can be fairly certain it’s too late to make an escape that doesn’t involve climbing out a window in the dark onto uneven ground.

Don’t simply rely on having smoke detectors, put some thought into where they are located and what level of early warning they can provide.  My local fire department actually sent a team to my house to look around and determine the appropriate places to add extra alarms – they even provided and installed the alarms for free.  Contact your local fire department to see if they have any similar programs, or just give your smoke detector layout some real thought, and purchase additional units to add where necessary.